


Gears in Rewind

by HisGlasses



Series: The ClockWork-Verse [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bonus Chapter, Comfort, Emotions, Fluff, Gears in Motion, I Don't Even Know, I'm not made to write smut I guess, Kissing, M/M, Reunion, Touching, bottom Ignis, feelsy porn, my own embarrassment probably, what else to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:14:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22719751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisGlasses/pseuds/HisGlasses
Summary: Ignis has started his new life, away from the bustling City of Insomnia that had almost gotten the better of him about a year ago. But there is something on his mind that keeps claiming his thoughts. Or rather someone. And he will be visiting today.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Series: The ClockWork-Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632799
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	Gears in Rewind

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus chapter to [Gears in Motion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442123/chapters/38500481).  
> It's probably better to have read the story for context but it should be understandable without as well.
> 
> Likewise, you don't have to read the bonus, if you liked the way the original story ended. (I for my part did but those two kept nagging so I gave them a place to be.)
> 
> Spice-a-thon enabled me.

When the doorbell rang, Ignis found himself jumping from his couch, as if his lurching heart had pulled him right up in its move. The magazine he had been trying to occupy himself with had fluttered to show its article about Altissian food to the carpet instead and the coffee spilled over the rim of its cup when Ignis hit the corner of the small table with his shin.

_Drat._

He plucked a napkin from the little standee and wiped away the drops without much time to regret the loss. In other circumstances he might have lamented the waste of a good sip and how regretful it was that it had gone cold but there were other things circling in his mind. Just how scattered could one get because of the sound of one’s own doorbell?

“On my way!”, he raised his voice as he shimmied his feet into a pair of slippers and hurried for the entrance door, careful enough not to knock over the potted plant in the hallway. For a short moment he hesitated, his hand hovering over the handle. Today had come quicker than expected and, as much as he had thought to remain calm his pulse was vehemently mocking him right now.

He already had imagined how the scenario would play out when he opened the door, how memories of the past would catch up with him, leaving to ridicule him into an emotional mess on the floor. There had been other reactions that could have possibly joined the mix – shame, guilt, total neutrality. Although the latter might have actually been the worst.

But none of that came into being once the door opened. When the light wood parted with its frame, it only revealed a visitor with a crooked smile, and blue eyes peering up from behind black hair, stuffed under a grey beanie.

“Hey. You almost got me thinking I rang at the wrong place for a sec. Gave me a heart attack.”

Ignis’ mouth gradually widened into a smile that made the skin around his eyes crinkle as he stepped to the side to let his guest in.

“Apologies. The coffee table wouldn’t let me pass. Please, come in?”

The visitor snorted and followed Ignis’ gesture, closing the door after him.  
“Ah, here.” The plastic bag rustled as he held it out for Ignis to take. “I brought some of the coffee I told you about. They were selling sample sizes but I don’t know too much about it, so I got two randomly. Hope you like it.”

Ignis’ eyebrow angled up in a dry question as he inspected the inside of the bag.  
“And cereal bars.”

The other’s grin grew into a line of white.  
“Just in case you missed the taste.”

Ignis snorted and shook his head.  
“I doubt that but the gesture is appreciated. Please, make yourself at home. I will put those away and be right back.”

Roughly eight months had gone by before Ignis finally had mustered up his courage. He had found the paper with phone number upon arrival and known who was behind it in a blink. But he had kept it until he felt the time was right, hoping it to be not too late then. The number was securely saved in his phone’s address book - it already had been before he had found the strip of paper but it had taken him a good amount of time before Ignis had dared to compose a message.

_It has been a while.  
I hope you are doing alright.  
Do you happen to remember me?_

“Hey, what’s with that happy family picture? Your brother or something?”, it sounded from the living room.

“Beg your pardon?”  
Ignis discarded the cereal bars with a soft chuckle and took out the two small packages of ground coffee, one reading ‘Ebony’ the other ‘Ravatogh Roast’.

“The one on your dining table? There’s some envelope and a letter going with it.”

“Ah, that one, yes”, Ignis nodded, setting two fresh cups and the pot of coffee he had prepared in advance onto a tray. “Those are my former co-workers. They have been blessed with the birth of a baby girl only about a week ago and he was very eager to let me know. And just for the record, I don’t have any siblings.”

“Wow, congrats, I guess. But a letter? Wouldn’t it be easier to send you a quick message instead? We’re not living in the middle ages anymore.”

“Nyx has always been one for the traditional. And you can’t deny, receiving a letter has a certain charm that a messenger programme cannot provide.”

_Funny_ , Ignis thought as he took up the tray to bring it over. Being worried over their conversation suddenly stopping had been a superfluous deed. It had been some time since they had talked in person, but honestly, what are a few months? Nothing, if one thought about it but it could still feel like a very long time.

They had been writing on a daily basis for another four or five weeks after Ignis had sent his initial message. Seeing Noctis stand in his new living room now, following an invitation Ignis had made only a couple of days ago felt surreal. 

“Don’t trip over that magazine or you’ll send your cups flying”, Noctis remarked, shuffling over to pick it up and thus prevent a semi-disaster.

“Ah, much obliged. Goodness, where is my head today?”  
The tray clinked softly as Ignis set it onto the coffee table.

“What’s with that one?”, Noctis pointed at the cup where an elder brew had bitterly chilled under neglecting eyes. “You still want that?”

“Oh. No, you’re right. Let me just-”

“Specs.”

Ignis drew in a breath as Noctis laid his hand onto his shoulder and their eyes met for what was likely to be the first time today. They had quickly glanced at each other before, but it was only now that Ignis realised he had been running around like a young dog, trying to be as hospitable as he could. Time finally seemed to be slowing down a little.

“Don’t make a fuss. It’s only me, okay? Relax.”

Noctis still looked like the memory Ignis had had of him but for a few differences. No residue of glitter or eyeliner was to be found around his eyes and lashes, the shadows under his eyes had grown weak without the help of coverage and he seemed to have gained a little in weight – which, given the slim stature he had was far from being problematic. On the contrary, the lightly puffy cheeks made him look gentle, adorable even if Ignis was daring enough to think so.

Noctis pulled his mouth up into a wry grin that reached up to touch his eyes.  
“That’s better. I’ll put that one away for you then and you take care of the coffee. The kitchen was over there?”

“Alright”, Ignis huffed in defeat. “Yes, right that way. Thank you.”

Not missing to catch a glimpse of Noctis’ backside as he moved to the kitchen - even though Ignis would have had a hard time to acknowledge that - Ignis poured the coffee and gave his best to stay calm, just as he had been told. Back then in Insomnia, they had shared that peculiar connection of seeking and finding comfort in each other when they both were at their lowest. Chasing a fantasy and by that pretending to be alright when they weren’t. Being desperate enough to suggest that they need each other when all they really were was a means to an end.

Or so he had thought. He had been sure of it and he had meant it.

If it hadn’t been for the first and last kiss to his lips that Noctis shared before goodbye.  
If it hadn’t been for the words that had been stuck to his brain for the whole train ride back, revealing a truth he hadn’t known to be one.

“Did I make you happy?”, Noctis had asked and had concluded “then that’s all I need to know”, when Ignis had confirmed just that.  
Yes, he had made him happy. By the end of the train ride, Ignis had asked himself if that wasn’t the only thing that actually mattered and not _why_ it had happened to turn out that way.

Then Ignis had started therapy to get back on track again, to regain energies and process what had eaten away at him during his burnout life in Insomnia and to let it go so he could look ahead and move on. Closure to that chapter of his life had come rather quickly but valuing the advice of his psychiatrist, Ignis had taken his time to unfold himself again from the cramped everyday he had lived. Despite everything he had let go of, his memory of Noctis had continued to stay on his mind.

It had only been about two months ago that he had finally started a new job and moved from his childhood home for the second time. A fresh start into a new life, if one wanted to see it that way. That was just good enough a reason for Ignis to stand up and finally reach out to the man who had always stayed with him in the shadows.

“You’re actually _living_ here”, Noctis stated, giving off an impressed air as he looked over the living room upon return. “It really came out nicely. I like the colours.”

“Thank you”, Ignis laughed at the remark but he couldn’t blame him. Back then, his room consisted of nothing but bare furniture, accompanied by the matinal coffee cup abandoned and unwashed in the sink and stacks of unopened cardboard boxes to frame the walls. Nothing he himself had been willing to call ‘home’.

Now, his room was not only equipped with the basics but actually had potted plants, bookshelves, a carpet on the floor, cushions on the sofa and pictures on the walls.

“Guess Insomnia has never been the place for you to be, huh.”  
Ignis wondered if it was a hint of sadness he had made out in his tone just now.

“Well, I’d rather say that it has been an unfavourable start, is all. The city itself has its charm points and I wanted to go there.”

Noctis continued looking around the room, his features bright as he took in all the little details like the small potted ivy on one of the bookshelves and the retro stereo in red varnish on the opposite side of the room. As Ignis followed his peaceful gaze, _he_ ended up being the one in Noctis’ focus. His visitor shot him a gentle smile.

“You’re looking good, Iggy.”  
Thump.  
“So much better since when I last saw you. That’s good”, Noctis nodded. “Really.”

“Yes, I… thank you”, he tripped on his own words, running a bashful hand under his jaw. “There is... a lot of catching up to do, if you care for an exchange of stories? It is different actually talking to each other than only messaging. Why don’t we sit down and-”

Ignis was interrupted by a hearty laugh coming from Noctis, so intense that his shoulders were shaking with each sound.  
“Of course I do, but damn, Specs.” He shook his head at him. “What are you running from? You haven’t even really welcomed me here yet.”

Ignis blinked at him, confused to understand that he had de facto missed out on that. Shame rose to his cheeks and he apologised. Noctis only waved it off with another chuckle but looked at him almost in timid fashion.

“Would it... be weird to ask for a hug at least?”

A deep breath entered and exited Ignis’ lungs as he stepped closer with a smile, probably looking more fragile than he intended. The idea of proximity had crossed his mind, but the fear of awkwardness had blatantly paralysed him. Hesitant and shy, he extended his arms to make space for Noctis to fit, if he cared to. And he did.

“There. That’s better…”, Noctis murmured against his shoulder, bringing his arms around him and thus himself closer. It was a warm embrace and full of familiarity, of comfort and that special sense of sharing something.

“I… didn’t know if it would be bothering you. I didn’t want to invade your privacy.”

“Bullshit.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“I don’t.” Noctis’ hands found rest right under Ignis’ shoulder blades and drew a light circle with an open palm. “I really don’t.”

An automatism, muscle memory or whatever else could be blamed made Ignis lift up one hand to rest against Noctis’ neck. It fit so well, like nothing had ever been different. Gentle fingers scraped where longer strands of black were framing his head. Seconds of silence ticked away, and the room was merely filled with the warmth of their bodies and the scent of coffee.

“I have never wanted to use you”, Ignis suddenly sputtered, feeling the doubts about his morals creep back up on him from behind again. Bad conscience he had never been able to shake off, no matter what his therapist had suggested. And there he was, turning in the puddle of emotion he had feared to become. Noctis only nodded against his chest.

“You deserved so much more than make believe and the affection of someone desperate to prove his own worth. But you were always on my mind. The dreams of being with you wouldn’t leave me and I realised I didn’t want to leave them either.” Ignis bit his lip. “I thought about calling you, you know? But... I had nothing to give. I didn’t want you to endure me and fall victim to my egoism out of pity. Not again.”

“Shit, Ignis.” Noctis lifted his hands to cup Ignis’ face and look at him with an incredulous smile. “Can you just once stop guessing what I am thinking and actually _ask_ me? I’ve been _waiting_ for you to call me. I wanted you to. I know you had your reasons and your issues, and I understand them, believe me. You talked to me, you were honest with me and laid everything open, so what else could I do but accept? I didn’t want to put pressure on you either.”

It was as if the following huff took away several levels of volume in his voice, because it was almost toned down to a whisper when he spoke again.  
“But that was a decision _you_ made on your own. For eight months I was hoping you wouldn’t forget me. I was hoping you’d want to try and talk to me again, because I was happy with you around. You made me _happy_ , Ignis.”

Still pinning his eyes into place, Noctis dropped his hands on Ignis’ hip.  
“Now try talking about chasing your own egoism again. It’s so ridiculous. If you want to see someone being pitiful, look at me trying to catch the next best train to see you right after you invited me over.”

Ignis drew a strained breath, his lips pressed into a line. One heartbeat passed, then another. And another, as if to urge him forward, to discard his doubts and simply let himself fall. Let the both of them fall together.

“May I kiss you?”, Ignis asked, voice hushed and Noctis’ smile grows wide and radiant.

“Damn, Ignis, yes! _Please_!”

He didn’t even get the time to bend over because Noctis yanked him down with a strong pull and smashed their lips together. The movement was far too strong and their teeth clattered together but it didn’t matter. They found themselves laughing, still holding on to each other tightly.

“Is it alright to... tell you that I missed you?”, Ignis asked, pressing a soft peck to Noctis’ eyebrow.

“You don’t have to ask me about _everything_.”  
Noctis swatted his arm before pulling himself up against his chest again.  
“But yeah…. I missed you too.”

It was okay. The circumstances had changed but both of them were still here, still holding each other and wanting to be here. The worries of being a burden, the belief of them being an arrangement for comfort, an affair to simply bear with life started to crumble, along with the awkwardness that had trapped Ignis within.

“Forgive me, I didn’t reach out sooner but I had to be sure-”

“I g n i s.”

A peculiar pitch left from Ignis’ throat as Noctis’ hands had wandered down to squeeze both of his butt cheeks vigorously.  
“I got it. Now stop apologising, okay?”

Ignis stammered. “F-forgive, it’s a habit of mine. Ah-”

“You’re doing it again.”  
Noctis tilted his head to shoot a mischievous grin.  
“At that rate your butt is in for torture.”

“Noct, please.”

That smirk might have been bold but a second look to his face made it clear that it was not made of cheekiness alone. Genuine joy was painted on his features, in the gentle creases around his eyes and that soft glow on his cheeks. Yes, Ignis had missed him and their closeness and that fact was growing more and more obvious.

“I know that look of yours”, Noctis murmured, squeezing again just to see Ignis’ eyes narrow and brow twitch in response. “You can’t fool the eyes of a specialist. Although I wouldn’t even need those. There’s other things screaming just as loud.”  
He pushed Ignis’ hips closer to him, only to make both of them painfully aware of that erection waking between his legs.  
“You’re really that happy to see me, huh?”

Embarrassment rose to his head but Ignis kept his voice just as quiet.  
“I don’t want you to think that this is the reason why I invited you here. I assure you, it’s not like that. I merely wanted to see you again.”

“Ah-ah… there you go again interpreting me as you please. We’ll have to work on your accuracy.” Noctis’ teeth tugged at his lower lip. “Let’s try that again then. How about… you ask me again, just for this one?”

“Ask you…?”

“Yeah, about what I’m thinking.”

Ignis diverted his eyes.  
“It’s… quite hard with your hands on me like that.”

“Hm-hm, I can feel that.”

“That’s not what I-!”

Noctis tugged him closer yet and the excitement of friction against Ignis’ stirred parts made both of them laugh out, more or less shyly. He let his eyes flick up to him again.  
“Ask me.”

The swallow was almost audible if not for the pulse hammering against his chest. Ignis ran his tongue over his lips, briefly wondering how his mouth could have gotten so dry and since when his heart had decided to run a marathon.

“What… are you thinking?”

Noctis’ grin started to fade and his eyes darkened a hue. Seeing him turn like that in front of him made goosebumps prick on Ignis’ neck.

“I’m thinking that I’m glad to be here.”  
Noctis let his fingers run down over the curve of Ignis’ butt and back up again.  
“That I’m happy you missed me and called me here and to see that you still want me that way. Because it’s the same for me.”

“You don’t need to tell me that just to please me…”, Ignis whispered. “That’s a thing of the past.”

“Yeah, right. And that’s exactly why I’m telling you. Not because I have to but because I want to. Because I mean it.”  
Noctis lifted himself up to press a kiss against Ignis’ throat, firm lips gently parting and melting into a spot of bliss on the skin. Ignis’ eyes fluttered shut and he clawed his fingers deeper into Noctis’ hair. 

It was a game he would lose, inevitably so. Noctis had put him to pieces more than once, shackles coming loose one by one under his hands and lips. He knew exactly what to do to render him powerless.

“Do you… want this?”, Ignis managed to ask without quivering too much, head tilted upwards and holding tight onto Noctis. A wet sound and the chill that surfaced in the absence of tongue sent a shiver down his spine.

“Yeah”, Noctis breathed against Ignis’ throat, fingers wandering to his chest. “I didn’t sleep well tonight because I kept thinking of this. That I could finally have you again.”  
Another kiss under his jaw had Ignis hum out lowly, much to Noctis’ liking.  
“You?”

“I… wouldn’t exactly be opposed.” 

“Is that a yes?”

The warmth of Noctis’ breath transferred directly under his skin, warming up the blood cursing through his system at higher speed. It was a yes, absolutely, if not for that last nagging bit of stupidity clinging to him like a stubborn child.

“You don’t need me, Noct…”

A low chuckle.   
“I told you, you can’t decide that for me. And I don’t only need you. I _want_ you, Ignis.”

Another look shared, blue connecting with green and the tension in between blurred out the unnecessary details. _Be true to yourself_ it whispered. _Nothing about this is wrong and you know it._

It was Ignis who bent to close the gap, and Noctis to willingly accept him. Mouth on mouth, lips parting, slightly at first then opened further by the slick push of tongue, leaving a hot sensation behind where it slid right in. The words that wouldn’t be spoken, transmitted by touch and conveyed by passion.

Noctis smiled into the moan Ignis fed him as he stripped him of his shirt, ran a hand over his torso and stopped on his chest to play around his nipple.  
“Gods, I missed your voice”, he murmured before he dropped his head to lick around the exposed nub, alternating tongue with suction to tease him just a little more. His hands kept busying themselves with Ignis’ belt buckle, that came loose without much protest.

Ignis was panting, letting out occasional whimpers when Noctis’ tongue flicked over his skin and his fingers were trying to fumble for contact under Noctis’ shirt. When it came off and his hair fluffed back down around his face, Ignis was sure he had never seen him be more beautiful.

“Hope you don’t mind…”, Noctis breathed against Ignis’ exposed chest after Ignis had done nothing but look at him with lidded eyes.  
“I’m not exactly in the shape you’ve last seen me with.”

“Meaning…?” Ignis took his turn in feeling over Noctis’ butt, sinking his fingertips into the thick flesh, most delicious to squeeze.

“Mmmh… You’re not… disappointed of what you see?” His hand snaked into Ignis’ trousers, brushing feather strokes over the bulge in his briefs in sweetest torture.

“I still don’t understand… ngh…”

“You’re not _that_ dense”, Noctis laughed softly when a bite to his earlobe turned his voice into something sensual. Hot trails of wet marked the line of his jaw and down his throat until Ignis’ lips found their favourite place to stay. He took in the taste of Noctis’ skin, smoothing over the spot near his collarbone that would certainly scream their deeds in a scarlet flower, came tomorrow. Fingers dipped down under the curve of Noctis’ lower cheeks, rediscovering, exploring and teasing the places that had brought back familiar hushed moans. 

Not long until they made for the bed, Noctis’ legs around Ignis’ waist, even after he had collapsed onto the mattress. Their kissing grew heated, hungry mouths longing to devour what they would be given. Ignis gasped out loud as Noctis’ nails dug into the flesh of his back to pull him down against the upward rocking of his hips.

“Those must be too tight by now…”, Ignis panted, face deeply flushed and eyes dark as he tugged at the waistband of Noctis’ bottoms. A laugh laced with strange shyness rose from kiss bitten lips but yet again Ignis formed it into a moan.

“I-Ignis, wai-ah…!”

Noctis’ voice faltered as Ignis took him into his mouth with a deep hum. If he had grown bolder or just ever more desperate, he couldn’t say. But hearing Noctis cry out in pleasure at the smooth hotness sliding over and around him only encouraged him further.  
Only when Noctis yanked at his hair with serious urgency, Ignis let him go, parted lips popping away from the hardness that had been pulsating strongly against them.

He was right there. Noctis was right in front of him, body twisted in a meagre attempt to stay composed under heavy breaths. Not a man on sale for pleasure, no miserable one-night-lover who only found solace in physical company. Ignis dusted a cascade of kisses up his inner thigh. No, this was Noctis. The one he had been thinking of, the one whose presence he had found out to have become an essential part of him.

Noctis propped himself up on shaky arms, reaching out one hand towards Ignis.  
“C-come over here.”

And Ignis followed the plea, crawling over his blooming body of pink and white and pressed a long lascivious kiss to his lips.  
“Too much…?” He brushed away some hair that had stuck to the sweat on Noctis’ forehead.

Blue eyes closed behind curtains of black lashes and Noctis shook his head.  
“You… can’t just keep running ahead… on your own…”, he gasped, every breath hot against Ignis’ face. “You’re not really… running from me… right?”

“I would… hardly call this… running…”

“Then don’t keep me out.”

The room turned and under the pressure of gentle touches Ignis found himself lying on his back, wide open and vulnerable. The sheets were warm and covered in the scent of the one bending down over him.

“Look at me.”

When Ignis’ lashes lifted, a picture of the past flashed by. It was as if the scent of cigarettes mixed with perfume was still lingering in his nose, and a beautiful bird of prey was hovering over him with feathers spread and distant eyes rimmed with stardust. But the flash of memory vanished and left behind a young man at his most earnest, driven by life. Barer than any exposure of skin could make him be.

“I want this to be about us.”  
Noctis caressed over Ignis’ face, jaw and down to his chest. The heart within was thrashing strongly, as if to burst from its cage and right into Noctis’ hand.  
“Not about you. Not about me, okay? Us. From now on.”

Ignis reached up for Noctis’ cheek, red and hot skin fitting right into his palm. The desperate resignation that had always shared their bed when they came apart seemed to have traded places with shards of anxiousness in Noctis’ irises and hope, painted like golden dots to the tips of his lashes.

Noctis hadn’t come here as composed as he had pretended to be. Underneath his casual cool, he had just been as unsure, just as worried about the outcome. Worried that he might not be desirable with one or the other pound more. Worried that they would come to a closure and another goodbye after all.

The words kept sticking in his throat, so Ignis pulled him down for another passionate kiss, hoping to get across that this was exactly what he had been thinking about. That their relation had been born from the need to escape. That even after their escape, the wish to stay together had lasted and that he had loathed to know his own egoistic motives behind.

And maybe, should Noctis feel the same, that they could try to start anew.

Those thoughts stayed unspoken and instead a cry filled the air with static as Noctis moved to unite with Ignis. Both bodies hadn’t forgotten how to adjust, how to ease on the pressure to give way for more, to stretch the way they could go until there was no further. Noctis whined as Ignis clenched around him, sending his own ragged breath over his shoulder in waves.

When Noctis started to move, every push sent lightning through Ignis’ veins, cautious at first but increasing in range. Each slide gave way for a moan and every sound brought up memories in a cascade of fireworks.

Noctis. The beautiful stranger wrapped in tight fabric with a gaze shrouded in mystery. Noctis. Hurt on the worn down floor of his boudoir, yelling at Ignis to get out.  
Noctis. Ambushed in the streets and seeking for help.  
Noctis. Desperate for a better life.  
Noctis. In Ignis’ apartment, stoking the flame of desire for an illusion of comfort.

Each and every image played back and vanished until the touch and heat they shared in unison was all that remained and all that mattered.  
Their past was important, yes but along the way something had unmistakably changed and it showed in the way they moved. This was more than just the pursuit of passion for the sake of forgetting. It was a means of expression with no compare.

“No..ct… ah...”

It was useless. Words simply wouldn’t do. Ignis’ head fell to the side, chest rising and falling in a heavy rhythm. He most likely gave off a more than indecent picture but Noctis was burning on top of him, a flower ablaze.  
Noctis frantically grabbed for Ignis’ hand in the sheets and let their fingers intertwine, while keeping up a rhythm, thrusting into him, making him sing a worship of his name.

“Don’t disappear from my life again, you hear?”, Noctis cried out, body flushed deep and eyes pleading. Little beads of sweat glistened on his skin as he lowered his head against Ignis’, constantly moving into him faster, stronger, deeper and with the urgency to completely melt into him.

“Stay with me. Fall in love with me, please, Ignis, don’t tell me you can’t.”

“No…c…tis...”

“Please!”

Driven to the peak, Ignis was the first to let go, arching up just so that Noctis was quick to follow. Their pitched cries gradually toned down to whimpers, their bodies slowing down in a moment of perfection, connected, together. As even the soft rocking of their bodies seemed to consume a humongous amount of energy, Noctis pulled out and crashed right into Ignis’ arms. Ignis welcomed him, keeping him close in the cooldown and threading lazy fingers through his hair. It was as if time had ceased to exist at all. Each breath seemed to linger for eternity, each heartbeat echoed like a droplet in a cave.

“I would like that”, Ignis finally whispered into Noctis’ hair after who knew how much time had passed. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours.

“Hm?”

“Your request”, he smiled as Noctis craned up to look at him. Heavens, the daze of blue was so precious, the more even when it filled with light before it disappeared behind lids squeezed shut in glee.

“Awesome.”

They stayed like that for a little longer, until Ignis nudged Noctis to take a shower, apologising for the mess he had caused.

“ _We_ have caused”, Noctis corrected him and with a kiss to the nose he disappeared into the bathroom. When he came back, Ignis had turned on soft background music and set up a blanket matching the pillows on his couch. As much as they hadn’t really cared for cuddling before, as pleasant it was, sitting together with entangled limbs and talking for a while.

Noctis told him that he and his father had moved from their apartment into a complex with an implemented assisted living system. They still had their own living space, but his father had the opportunity of spending time with other inhabitants in a community space while Noctis was out for work. Some of the younger housewives used to tend to them and looked after those who needed help. In exchange Noctis would help to set up furniture, do the groceries or other little things to hold the balance of favours done.

He also mentioned that Aranea had handed over her job at the ramen place to him, at least for the time he was still looking for a stable and safe source of income.

“Kind of her”, Ignis smiled, his hands crossed over Noctis’ midsection.

“Yeah, she’s always been kind to me, even after I left that place. She’s been asking about you, you know?”

“Oh, really?”

“Yup. Dad did too.”

“Speaking of parents.”  
Ignis rested his chin on Noctis’ shoulder.  
“I don’t know what your plans are for tonight but what would you say about beef stew and homemade apple tart? My mother is a great cook and my father’s baking skills are not to be underestimated.”

Noctis whipped his head around and almost smashed the glasses from Ignis’ face along with the movement.  
“Don’t you think it’s a bit early to introduce me?”, he grinned, cheekiness failing to cover up the hint of panic.

“But it wasn’t when I met your father?”  
Ignis nuzzled himself against Noctis’ cheek.  
“Jest aside, I told them an Insomnian friend might be visiting and thus I wouldn’t be able to come over but instead of accepting they chose to invite you as well. There is no need to make any of this public yet. We have all the time to do so, right?”

Noctis let himself fall against Ignis’ chest again with a peaceful sigh.  
“Sounds good. One step at a time.”

Their hands threaded together under the blanket and Ignis gave him a soft kiss on the head.  
“Let’s heal together?”

“Yeah. Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> ... I guess I chickened out on being all too explicit. And it still feels a bit stiff (haha, no pun intended). Guess I'm just awkward around writing filth ._.  
> At least I tried. Guess I'm a better spice-reader than writer |D
> 
> I had some problems getting back into them character wise, as I had some clear characteristics for them in the main story but with Ignis feeling better and not being the grey glum gentleman somehow they slipped a bit.  
> I still hope you liked the little extra.


End file.
